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PRESIDENT JOHN QUINCY ADAMS
STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS
6 December 1825
Fellow Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
In taking a general survey of the concerns of our beloved country, with
reference to subjects interesting to the common welfare, the first sentiment
which impresses itself upon the mind is of gratitude to the Omnipotent
Disposer of All Good for the continuance of the signal blessings of His
providence, and especially for that health which to an unusual extent has
prevailed within our borders, and for that abundance which in the vicissitudes
of the seasons has been scattered with profusion over our land. Nor ought
we less to ascribe to Him the glory that we are permitted to enjoy the
bounties of His hand in peace and tranquillity -- in peace with all the
other nations of the earth, in tranquillity among our selves. There has,
indeed, rarely been a period in the history of civilized man in which the
general condition of the Christian nations has been marked so extensively
by peace and prosperity.
Europe, with a few partial and unhappy exceptions, has enjoyed 10 years
of peace, during which all her Governments, what ever the theory of their
constitutions may have been, are successively taught to feel that the end
of their institution is the happiness of the people, and that the exercise
of power among men can be justified only by the blessings it confers upon
those over whom it is extended.
During the same period our intercourse with all those nations has been
pacific and friendly; it so continues. Since the close of your last session
no material variation has occurred in our relations with any one of them.
In the commercial and navigation system of Great Britain important changes
of municipal regulation have recently been sanctioned by acts of Parliament,
the effect of which upon the interests of other nations, and particularly
upon ours, has not yet been fully developed. In the recent renewal of the
diplomatic missions on both sides between the two Governments assurances
have been given and received of the continuance and increase of the mutual
confidence and cordiality by which the adjustment of many points of difference
had already been effected, and which affords the surest pledge for the
ultimate satisfactory adjustment of those which still remain open or may
hereafter arise.
The policy of the United States in their commercial intercourse with
other nations has always been of the most liberal character. In the mutual
exchange of their respective productions they have abstained altogether
from prohibitions; they have interdicted themselves the power of laying
taxes upon exports, and when ever they have favored their own shipping
by special preferences or exclusive privileges in their own ports it has
been only with a view to countervail similar favors and exclusions granted
by the nations with whom we have been engaged in traffic to their own people
or shipping, and to the disadvantage of ours. Immediately after the close
of the last war a proposal was fairly made by the act of Congress of 1815-03-03,
to all the maritime nations to lay aside the system of retaliating restrictions
and exclusions, and to place the shipping of both parties to the common
trade on a footing of equality in respect to the duties of tonnage and
impost. This offer was partially and successively accepted by Great Britain,
Sweden, the Netherlands, the Hanseatic cities, Prussia, Sardinia, the Duke
of Oldenburg, and Russia. It was also adopted, under certain modifications,
in our late commercial convention with France, and by the act of Congress
of 1824-01-08, it has received a new confirmation with all the nations
who had acceded to it, and has been offered again to all those who are
or may here after be willing to abide in reciprocity by it. But all these
regulations, whether established by treaty or by municipal enactments,
are still subject to one important restriction.
The removal of discriminating duties of tonnage and of impost is limited
to articles of the growth, produce, or manufacture of the country to which
the vessel belongs or to such articles as are most usually first shipped
from her ports. It will deserve the serious consideration of Congress whether
even this remnant of restriction may not be safely abandoned, and whether
the general tender of equal competition made in the act of 1824-01-08,
may not be extended to include all articles of merchandise not prohibited,
of what country so ever they may be the produce or manufacture. Propositions
of this effect have already been made to us by more than one European Government,
and it is probable that if once established by legislation or compact with
any distinguished maritime state it would recommend itself by the experience
of its advantages to the general accession of all.
The convention of commerce and navigation between the United States
and France, concluded on 1822-06-24, was, in the understanding and intent
of both parties, as appears upon its face, only a temporary arrangement
of the points of difference between them of the most immediate and pressing
urgency. It was limited in the first instance to two years from 1822-10-01,
but with a proviso that it should further continue in force 'til the conclusion
of a general and definitive treaty of commerce, unless terminated by a
notice, 6 months in advance, of either of the parties to the other. Its
operation so far as it extended has been mutually advantageous, and it
still continues in force by common consent. But it left unadjusted several
objects of great interest to the citizens and subjects of both countries,
and particularly a mass of claims to considerable amount of citizens of
the United States upon the Government of France of indemnity for property
taken or destroyed under circumstances of the most aggravated and outrageous
character. In the long period during which continual and earnest appeals
have been made to the equity and magnanimity of France in behalf of these
claims their justice has not been, as it could not be, denied.
It was hoped that the accession of a new Sovereign to the throne would
have afforded a favorable opportunity for presenting them to the consideration
of his Government. They have been presented and urged hither to without
effect. The repeated and earnest representations of our minister at the
Court of France remain as yet even without an answer. Were the demands
of nations upon the justice of each other susceptible of adjudication by
the sentence of an impartial tribunal, those to which I now refer would
long since have been settled and adequate indemnity would have been obtained.
There are large amounts of similar claims upon the Netherlands, Naples,
and Denmark. For those upon Spain prior to 1819 indemnity was, after many
years of patient forbearance, obtained; and those upon Sweden have been
lately compromised by a private settlement, in which the claimants themselves
have acquiesced. The Governments of Denmark and of Naples have been recently
reminded of those yet existing against them, nor will any of them be forgotten
while a hope may be indulged of obtaining justice by the means within the
constitutional power of the Executive, and without resorting to those means
of self-redress which, as well as the time, circumstances, and occasion
which may require them, are within the exclusive competency of the Legislature.
It is with great satisfaction that I am enabled to bear witness to the
liberal spirit with which the Republic of Colombia has made satisfaction
for well-established claims of a similar character, and among the documents
now communicated to Congress will be distinguished a treaty of commerce
and navigation with that Republic, the ratifications of which have been
exchanged since the last recess of the Legislature. The negotiation of
similar treaties with all of the independent South American States has
been contemplated and may yet be accomplished. The basis of them all, as
proposed by the United States, has been laid in two principles -- the one
of entire and unqualified reciprocity, the other the mutual obligation
of the parties to place each other permanently upon the footing of the
most favored nation. These principles are, indeed, indispensable to the
effectual emancipation of the American hemisphere from the thralldom of
colonizing monopolies and exclusions, an event rapidly realizing in the
progress of human affairs, and which the resistance still opposed in certain
parts of Europe to the acknowledgment of the Southern American Republics
as independent States will, it is believed, contribute more effectually
to accomplish. The time has been, and that not remote, when some of those
States might, in their anxious desire to obtain a nominal recognition,
have accepted of a nominal independence, clogged with burdensome conditions,
and exclusive commercial privileges granted to the nation from which they
have separated to the disadvantage of all others. They are all now aware
that such concessions to any European nation would be incompatible with
that independence which they have declared and maintained.
Among the measures which have been suggested to them by the new relations
with one another, resulting from the recent changes in their condition,
is that of assembling at the Isthmus of Panama a congress, at which each
of them should be represented, to deliberate upon objects important to
the welfare of all. The Republics of Colombia, of Mexico, and of Central
America have already deputed plenipotentiaries to such a meeting, and they
have invited the United States to be also represented there by their ministers.
The invitation has been accepted, and ministers on the part of the United
States will be commissioned to attend at those deliberations, and to take
part in them so far as may be compatible with that neutrality from which
it is neither our intention nor the desire of the other American States
that we should depart.
The commissioners under the 7th article of the treaty of Ghent have
so nearly completed their arduous labors that, by the report recently received
from the agent on the part of the United States, there is reason to expect
that the commission will be closed at their next session, appointed for
May 22 of the ensuing year.
The other commission, appointed to ascertain the indemnities due for
slaves carried away from the United States after the close of the late
war, have met with some difficulty, which has delayed their progress in
the inquiry. A reference has been made to the British Government on the
subject, which, it may be hoped, will tend to hasten the decision of the
commissioners, or serve as a substitute for it.
Among the powers specifically granted to Congress by the Constitution
are those of establishing uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout
the United States and of providing for organizing, arming, and disciplining
the militia and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the
services of the United States. The magnitude and complexity of the interests
affected by legislation upon these subjects may account for the fact that,
long and often as both of them have occupied the attention and animated
the debates of Congress, no systems have yet been devised for fulfilling
to the satisfaction of the community the duties prescribed by these grants
of power.
To conciliate the claim of the individual citizen to the enjoyment of
personal liberty, with the effective obligation of private contracts, is
the difficult problem to be solved by a law of bankruptcy. These are objects
of the deepest interest to society, affecting all that is precious in the
existence of multitudes of persons, many of them in the classes essentially
dependent and helpless, of the age requiring nurture, and of the sex entitled
to protection from the free agency of the parent and the husband. The organization
of the militia is yet more indispensable to the liberties of the country.
It is only by an effective militia that we can at once enjoy the repose
of peace and bid defiance to foreign aggression; it is by the militia that
we are constituted an armed nation, standing in perpetual panoply of defense
in the presence of all the other nations of the earth. To this end it would
be necessary, if possible, so to shape its organization as to give it a
more united and active energy. There are laws establishing an uniform militia
throughout the United States and for arming and equipping its whole body.
But it is a body of dislocated members, without the vigor of unity and
having little of uniformity but the name. To infuse into this most important
institution the power of which it is susceptible and to make it available
for the defense of the Union at the shortest notice and at the smallest
expense possible of time, of life, and of treasure are among the benefits
to be expected from the persevering deliberations of Congress.
Among the unequivocal indications of our national prosperity is the
flourishing state of our finances. The revenues of the present year, from
all their principal sources, will exceed the anticipations of the last.
The balance in the Treasury on the first of January last was a little short
of $2,000,000, exclusive of $2,500,000, being the moiety of the loan of
$5,000,000 authorized by the act of 1824-05-26. The receipts into the Treasury
from the first of January to the 30th of September, exclusive of the other
moiety of the same loan, are estimated at $16,500,000, and it is expected
that those of the current quarter will exceed $5,000,000, forming an aggregate
of receipts of nearly $22,000,000, independent of the loan. The expenditures
of the year will not exceed that sum more than $2,000,000. By those expenditures
nearly $8,000,000 of the principal of the public debt that have been discharged.
More than $1,500,000 has been devoted to the debt of gratitude to the
warriors of the Revolution; a nearly equal sum to the construction of fortifications
and the acquisition of ordnance and other permanent preparations of national
defense; $500,000 to the gradual increase of the Navy; an equal sum for
purchases of territory from the Indians and payment of annuities to them;
and upward of $1,000,000 for objects of internal improvement authorized
by special acts of the last Congress. If we add to these $4,000,000 for
payment of interest upon the public debt, there remains a sum of $7,000,000,
which have defrayed the whole expense of the administration of Government
in its legislative, executive, and judiciary departments, including the
support of the military and naval establishments and all the occasional
contingencies of a government coextensive with the Union.
The amount of duties secured on merchandise imported since the commencement
of the year is about $25,500,000, and that which will accrue during the
current quarter is estimated at $5,500,000; from these $31,000,000, deducting
the draw-backs, estimated at less than $7,000,000, a sum exceeding $24,000,000
will constitute the revenue of the year, and will exceed the whole expenditures
of the year. The entire amount of the public debt remaining due on the
first of January next will be short of $81,000,000.
By an act of Congress of the 3d of March last a loan of $12,000,000
was authorized at 4.5%, or an exchange of stock to that amount of 4.5%
for a stock of 6%, to create a fund for extinguishing an equal amount of
the public debt, bearing an interest of 6%, redeemable in 1826. An account
of the measures taken to give effect to this act will be laid before you
by the Secretary of the Treasury. As the object which it had in view has
been but partially accomplished, it will be for the consideration of Congress
whether the power with which it clothed the Executive should not be renewed
at an early day of the present session, and under what modifications.
The act of Congress of the 3d of March last, directing the Secretary
of the Treasury to subscribe, in the name and for the use of the United
States, for 1,500 shares of the capital stock of the Chesapeake and Delaware
Canal Company, has been executed by the actual subscription for the amount
specified; and such other measures have been adopted by that officer, under
the act, as the fulfillment of its intentions requires. The latest accounts
received of this important undertaking authorize the belief that it is
in successful progress.
The payments into the Treasury from the proceeds of the sales of the
public lands during the present year were estimated at $1,000,000. The
actual receipts of the first two quarters have fallen very little short
of that sum; it is not expected that the second half of the year will be
equally productive, but the income of the year from that source may now
be safely estimated at $1,500,000. The act of Congress of 1824-05-18, to
provide for the extinguishment of the debt due to the United States by
the purchasers of public lands, was limited in its operation of relief
to the purchaser to the 10th of April last. Its effect at the end of the
quarter during which it expired was to reduce that debt from $10,000,000
to $7,000,000 By the operation of similar prior laws of relief, from and
since that of 1821-03-02, the debt had been reduced from upward of $22,000,000
to $10,000,000.
It is exceedingly desirable that it should be extinguished altogether;
and to facilitate that consummation I recommend to Congress the revival
for one year more of the act of 1824-05-18, with such provisional modification
as may be necessary to guard the public interests against fraudulent practices
in the resale of the relinquished land.
The purchasers of public lands are among the most useful of our fellow
citizens, and since the system of sales for cash alone has been introduced
great indulgence has been justly extended to those who had previously purchased
upon credit. The debt which had been contracted under the credit sales
had become unwieldy, and its extinction was alike advantageous to the purchaser
and to the public. Under the system of sales, matured as it has been by
experience, and adapted to the exigencies of the times, the lands will
continue as they have become, an abundant source of revenue; and when the
pledge of them to the public creditor shall have been redeemed by the entire
discharge of the national debt, the swelling tide of wealth with which
they replenish the common Treasury may be made to reflow in unfailing streams
of improvement from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.
The condition of the various branches of the public service resorting
from the Department of War, and their administration during the current
year, will be exhibited in the report of the Secretary of War and the accompanying
documents herewith communicated. The organization and discipline of the
Army are effective and satisfactory. To counteract the prevalence of desertion
among the troops it has been suggested to withhold from the men a small
portion of their monthly pay until the period of their discharge; and some
expedient appears to be necessary to preserve and maintain among the officers
so much of the art of horsemanship as could scarcely fail to be found wanting
on the possible sudden eruption of a war, which should take us unprovided
with a single corps of cavalry.
The Military Academy at West Point, under the restrictions of a severe
but paternal superintendence, recommends itself more and more to the patronage
of the nation, and the numbers of meritorious officers which it forms and
introduces to the public service furnishes the means of multiplying the
undertakings of the public improvements to which their acquirements at
that institution are peculiarly adapted. The school of artillery practice
established at Fortress Monroe Hampton, VA is well suited to the same purpose,
and may need the aid of further legislative provision to the same end.
The reports of the various officers at the head of the administrative branches
of the military service, connected with the quartering, clothing, subsistence,
health, and pay of the Army, exhibit the assiduous vigilance of those officers
in the performance of their respective duties, and the faithful accountability
which has pervaded every part of the system.
Our relations with the numerous tribes of aboriginal natives of this
country, scattered over its extensive surface and so dependent even for
their existence upon our power, have been during the present year highly
interesting. An act of Congress of 1824-05-25, made an appropriation to
defray the expenses of making treaties of trade and friendship with the
Indian tribes beyond the Mississippi. An act of 1825-03-03, authorized
treaties to be made with the Indians for their consent to the making of
a road from the frontier of Missouri to that of New Mexico, and another
act of the same date provided for defraying the expenses of holding treaties
with the Sioux, Chippeways, Menomenees, Sauks, Foxes, etc., for the purpose
of establishing boundaries and promoting peace between said tribes.
The first and last objects of these acts have been accomplished, and
the second is yet in a process of execution. The treaties which since the
last session of Congress have been concluded with the several tribes will
be laid before the Senate for their consideration conformably to the Constitution.
They comprise large and valuable acquisitions of territory, and they secure
an adjustment of boundaries and give pledges of permanent peace between
several tribes which had been long waging bloody wars against each other.
On the 12th of February last a treaty was signed at the Indian Springs
between commissioners appointed on the part of the United States and certain
chiefs and individuals of the Creek Nation of Indians, which was received
at the seat of Government only a very few days before the close of the
last session of Congress and of the late Administration. The advice and
consent of the Senate was given to it on the 3d of March, too late for
it to receive the ratification of the then President of the United States;
it was ratified on the 7th of March, under the unsuspecting impression
that it had been negotiated in good faith and in the confidence inspired
by the recommendation of the Senate. The subsequent transactions in relation
to this treaty will form the subject of a separate communication.
The appropriations made by Congress for public works, as well in the
construction of fortifications as for purposes of internal improvement,
so far as they have been expended, have been faithfuly applied. Their progress
has been delayed by the want of suitable officers for superintending them.
An increase of both the corps of engineers, military and topographical,
was recommended by my predecessor at the last session of Congress. The
reasons upon which that recommendation was founded subsist in all their
force and have acquired additional urgency since that time. The Military
Academy at West Point will furnish from the cadets there officers well
qualified for carrying this measure into effect.
The Board of Engineers for Internal Improvement, appointed for carrying
into execution the act of Congress of 1824-04-30, "to procure the necessary
surveys, plans, and estimates on the subject of roads and canals", have
been actively engaged in that service from the close of the last session
of Congress. They have completed the surveys necessary for ascertaining
the practicability of a canal from the Chesapeake Bay to the Ohio River,
and are preparing a full report on that subject, which, when completed,
will be laid before you. The same observation is to be made with regard
to the two other objects of national importance upon which the Board have
been occupied, namely, the accomplishment of a national road from this
city to New Orleans, and the practicability of uniting the waters of Lake
Memphramagog with Connecticut River and the improvement of the navigation
of that river. The surveys have been made and are nearly completed. The
report may be expected at an early period during the present session of
Congress.
The acts of Congress of the last session relative to the surveying,
marking, or laying out roads in the Territories of Florida, Arkansas, and
Michigan, from Missouri to Mexico, and for the continuation of the Cumberland
road, are, some of them, fully executed, and others in the process of execution.
Those for completing or commencing fortifications have been delayed only
so far as the Corps of Engineers has been inadequate to furnish officers
for the necessary superintendence of the works. Under the act confirming
the statutes of Virginia and Maryland incorporating the Chesapeake and
Ohio Canal Company, three commissioners on the part of the United States
have been appointed for opening books and receiving subscriptions, in concert
with a like number of commissioners appointed on the part of each of those
States. A meeting of the commissioners has been post-poned, to await the
definitive report of the board of engineers.
The light-houses and monuments for the safety of our commerce and mariners,
the works for the security of Plymouth Beach and for the preservation of
the islands in Boston Harbor, have received the attention required by the
laws relating to those objects respectively. The continuation of the Cumberland
road, the most important of them all, after surmounting no inconsiderable
difficulty in fixing upon the direction of the road, has commenced under
the most promising of auspices, with the improvements of recent invention
in the mode of construction, and with advantage of a great reduction in
the comparative cost of the work.
The operation of the laws relating to the Revolutionary pensioners may
deserve the renewed consideration of Congress. The act of 1818-03-18, while
it made provision for many meritorious and indigent citizens who had served
in the War of Independence, opened a door to numerous abuses and impositions.
To remedy this the act of 1820-05-01, exacted proofs of absolute indigence,
which many really in want were unable and all susceptible of that delicacy
which is allied to many virtues must be deeply reluctant to give. The result
has been that some among the least deserving have been retained, and some
in whom the requisites both of worth and want were combined have been stricken
from the list. As the numbers of these venerable relics of an age gone
by diminish; as the decays of body, mind, and estate of those that survive
must in the common course of nature increase, should not a more liberal
portion of indulgence be dealt out to them? May not the want in most instances
be inferred from the demand when the service can be proved, and may not
the last days of human infirmity be spared the mortification of purchasing
a pittance of relief only by the exposure of its own necessities? I submit
to Congress the expediency of providing for individual cases of this description
by special enactment, or of revising the act of 1820-05-01, with a view
to mitigate the rigor of its exclusions in favor of persons to whom charity
now bestowed can scarcely discharge the debt of justice.
The portion of the naval force of the Union in actual service has been
chiefly employed on three stations -- the Mediterranean, the coasts of
South America bordering on the Pacific Ocean, and the West Indies. An occasional
cruiser has been sent to range along the African shores most polluted by
the traffic of slaves; one armed vessel has been stationed on the coast
of our eastern boundary, to cruise along the fishing grounds in Hudsons
Bay and on the coast of Labrador, and the first service of a new frigate
has been performed in restoring to his native soil and domestic enjoyments
the veteran hero whose youthful blood and treasure had freely flowed in
the cause of our country's independence, and whose whole life has been
a series of services and sacrifices to the improvement of his fellow men.
The visit of General Lafayette, alike honorable to himself and to our
country, closed, as it had commenced, with the most affecting testimonials
of devoted attachment on his part, and of unbounded gratitude of this people
to him in return. It will form here-after a pleasing incident in the annals
of our Union, giving to real history the intense interest of romance and
signally marking the unpurchasable tribute of a great nation's social affections
to the disinterested champion of the liberties of human-kind.
The constant maintenance of a small squadron in the Mediterranean is
a necessary substitute for the humiliating alternative of paying tribute
for the security of our commerce in that sea, and for a precarious peace,
at the mercy of every caprice of four Barbary States, by whom it was liable
to be violated. An additional motive for keeping a respectable force stationed
there at this time is found in the maritime war raging between the Greeks
and the Turks, and in which the neutral navigation of this Union is always
in danger of outrage and depredation. A few instances have occurred of
such depredations upon our merchant vessels by privateers or pirates wearing
the Grecian flag, but without real authority from the Greek or any other
Government. The heroic struggles of the Greeks themselves, in which our
warmest sympathies as free men and Christians have been engaged, have continued
to be maintained with vicissitudes of success adverse and favorable.
Similar motives have rendered expedient the keeping of a like force
on the coasts of Peru and Chile on the Pacific. The irregular and convulsive
character of the war upon the shores has been extended to the conflicts
upon the ocean. An active warfare has been kept up for years with alternate
success, though generally to the advantage of the American patriots. But
their naval forces have not always been under the control of their own
Governments. Blockades, unjustifiable upon any acknowledged principles
of international law, have been proclaimed by officers in command, and
though disavowed by the supreme authorities, the protection of our own
commerce against them has been made cause of complaint and erroneous imputations
against some of the most gallant officers of our Navy. Complaints equally
groundless have been made by the commanders of the Spanish royal forces
in those seas; but the most effective protection to our commerce has been
the flag and the firmness of our own commanding officers.
The cessation of the war by the complete triumph of the patriot cause
has removed, it is hoped, all cause of dissension with one party and all
vestige of force of the other. But an unsettled coast of many degrees of
latitude forming a part of our own territory and a flourishing commerce
and fishery extending to the islands of the Pacific and to China still
require that the protecting power of the Union should be displayed under
its flag as well upon the ocean as upon the land.
The objects of the West India Squadron have been to carry into execution
the laws for the suppression of the African slave trade; for the protection
of our commerce against vessels of piratical character, though bearing
commissions from either of the belligerent parties; for its protection
against open and unequivocal pirates. These objects during the present
year have been accomplished more effectually than at any former period.
The African slave trade has long been excluded from the use of our flag,
and if some few citizens of our country have continued to set the laws
of the Union as well as those of nature and humanity at defiance by persevering
in that abominable traffic, it has been only by sheltering themselves under
the banners of other nations less earnest for the total extinction of the
trade of ours.
The active, persevering, and unremitted energy of Captain Warrington
and of the officers and men under his command on that trying and perilous
service have been crowned with signal success, and are entitled to the
approbation of their country. But experience has shown that not even a
temporary suspension or relaxation from assiduity can be indulged on that
station without reproducing piracy and murder in all their horrors; nor
is it probably that for years to come our immensely valuable commerce in
those seas can navigate in security without the steady continuance of an
armed force devoted to its protection.
It were, indeed, a vain and dangerous illusion to believe that in the
present or probable condition of human society a commerce so extensive
and so rich as ours could exist and be pursued in safety without the continual
support of a military marine -- the only arm by which the power of this
Confederacy can be estimated or felt by foreign nations, and the only standing
military force which can never be dangerous to our own liberties at home.
A permanent naval peace establishment, therefore, adapted to our present
condition, and adaptable to that gigantic growth with which the nation
is advancing in its career, is among the subjects which have already occupied
the foresight of the last Congress, and which will deserve your serious
deliberations. Our Navy, commenced at an early period of our present political
organization upon a scale commensurate with the incipient energies, the
scanty resources, and the comparative indigence of our infancy, was even
then found adequate to cope with all the powers of Barbary, save the first,
and with one of the principle maritime powers of Europe.
At a period of further advancement, but with little accession of strength,
it not only sustained with honor the most unequal of conflicts, but covered
itself and our country with unfading glory. But it is only since the close
of the late war that by the numbers and force of the ships of which it
was composed it could deserve the name of a navy. Yet it retains nearly
the same organization as when it consisted only of 5 frigates. The rules
and regulations by which it is governed earnestly call for revision, and
the want of a naval school of instruction, corresponding with the Military
Academy at West Point, for the formation of scientific and accomplished
officers, is felt with daily increasing aggravation.
The act of Congress of 1824-05-26, authorizing an examination and survey
of the harbor of Charleston, in South Carolina, of St. Marys, in Georgia,
and of the coast of Florida, and for other purposes, has been executed
so far as the appropriation would admit. Those of the 3d of March last,
authorizing the establishment of a navy yard and depot on the coast of
Florida, in the Gulf of Mexico, and authorizing the building of ten sloops
of war, and for other purposes, are in the course of execution, for the
particulars of which and other objects connected with this Department I
refer to the report of the Secretary of the Navy, herewith communicated.
A report from the Post-Master General is also submitted, exhibiting
the present flourishing condition of that Department. For the first time
for many years the receipts for the year ending on the first of July last
exceeded the expenditures during the same period to the amount of more
than $45,000. Other facts equally creditable to the administration of this
Department are that in two years from 1823-07-01, an improvement of more
than $185,000 in its pecuniary affairs has been realized; that in the same
interval the increase of the transportation of the mail has exceeded 1,500,000
miles annually, and that 1,040 new post offices have been established.
It hence appears that under judicious management the income from this establishment
may be relied on as fully adequate to defray its expenses, and that by
the discontinuance of post roads altogether unproductive, others of more
useful character may be opened, 'til the circulation of the mail shall
keep pace with the spread of our population, and the comforts of friendly
correspondence, the exchanges of internal traffic, and the lights of the
periodical press shall be distributed to the remotest corners of the Union,
at a charge scarcely perceptible to any individual, and without the cost
of a dollar to the public Treasury.
Upon this first occasion of addressing the Legislature of the Union,
with which I have been honored, in presenting to their view the execution
so far as it has been effected of the measures sanctioned by them for promoting
the internal improvement of our country, I can not close the communication
without recommending to their calm and persevering consideration the general
principle in a more enlarged extent. The great object of the institution
of civil government is the improvement of the condition of those who are
parties to the social compact, and no government, in what ever form constituted,
can accomplish the lawful ends of its institution but in proportion as
it improves the condition of those over whom it is established. Roads and
canals, by multiplying and facilitating the communications and intercourse
between distant regions and multitudes of men, are among the most important
means of improvement. But moral, political, intellectual improvement are
duties assigned by the Author of Our Existence to social no less than to
individual man.
For the fulfillment of those duties governments are invested with power,
and to the attainment of the end -- the progressive improvement of the
condition of the governed -- the exercise of delegated powers is a duty
as sacred and indispensable as the usurpation of powers not granted is
criminal and odious.
Among the first, perhaps the very first, instrument for the improvement
of the condition of men is knowledge, and to the acquisition of much of
the knowledge adapted to the wants, the comforts, and enjoyments of human
life public institutions and seminaries of learning are essential. So convinced
of this was the first of my predecessors in this office, now first in the
memory, as, living, he was first in the hearts, of our country-men, that
once and again in his addresses to the Congresses with whom he cooperated
in the public service he earnestly recommended the establishment of seminaries
of learning, to prepare for all the emergencies of peace and war -- a national
university and a military academy. With respect to the latter, had he lived
to the present day, in turning his eyes to the institution at West Point
he would have enjoyed the gratification of his most earnest wishes; but
in surveying the city which has been honored with his name he would have
seen the spot of earth which he had destined and bequeathed to the use
and benefit of his country as the site for a university still bare and
barren.
In assuming her station among the civilized nations of the earth it
would seem that our country had contracted the engagement to contribute
her share of mind, of labor, and of expense to the improvement of those
parts of knowledge which lie beyond the reach of individual acquisition,
and particularly to geographical and astronomical science. Looking back
to the history only of the half century since the declaration of our independence,
and observing the generous emulation with which the Governments of France,
Great Britain, and Russia have devoted the genius, the intelligence, the
treasures of their respective nations to the common improvement of the
species in these branches of science, is it not incumbent upon us to inquire
whether we are not bound by obligations of a high and honorable character
to contribute our portion of energy and exertion to the common stock? The
voyages of discovery prosecuted in the course of that time at the expense
of those nations have not only redounded to their glory, but to the improvement
of human knowledge.
We have been partakers of that improvement and owe for it a sacred debt,
not only of gratitude, but of equal or proportional exertion in the same
common cause. Of the cost of these undertakings, if the mere expenditures
of outfit, equipment, and completion of the expeditions were to be considered
the only charges, it would be unworthy of a great and generous nation to
take a second thought. One hundred expeditions of circumnavigation like
those of Cook and La PŽrouse would not burden the exchequer of
the nation fitting them out so much as the ways and means of defraying
a single campaign in war. but if we take into account the lives of those
benefactors of man-kind of which their services in the cause of their species
were the purchase, how shall the cost of those heroic enterprises be estimated,
and what compensation can be made to them or to their countries for them?
Is it not by bearing them in affectionate remembrance? Is it not still
more by imitating their example -- by enabling country-men of our own to
pursue the same career and to hazard their lives in the same cause?
In inviting the attention of Congress to the subject of internal improvements
upon a view thus enlarged it is not my desire to recommend the equipment
of an expedition for circumnavigating the globe for purposes of scientific
research and inquiry. We have objects of useful investigation nearer home,
and to which our cares may be more beneficially applied. The interior of
our own territories has yet been very imperfectly explored. our coasts
along many degrees of latitude upon the shores of the Pacific Ocean, though
much frequented by our spirited commercial navigators, have been barely
visited by our public ships. The River of the West, first fully discovered
and navigated by a country-man of our own, still bears the name of the
ship in which he ascended its waters, and claims the protection of our
armed national flag at its mouth. With the establishment of a military
post there or at some other point of that coast, recommended by my predecessor
and already matured in the deliberations of the last Congress, I would
suggest the expediency of connecting the equipment of a public ship for
the exploration of the whole north-west coast of this continent.
The establishment of an uniform standard of weights and measures was
one of the specific objects contemplated in the formation of our Constitution,
and to fix that standard was on of the powers delegated by express terms
in that instrument to Congress. The Governments of Great Britain and France
have scarcely ceased to be occupied with inquiries and speculations on
the same subject since the existence of our Constitution, and with them
it has expanded into profound, laborious, and expensive researches into
the figure of the earth and the comparative length of the pendulum vibrating
seconds in various latitudes from the equator to the pole. These researches
have resulted in the composition and publication of several works highly
interesting to the cause of science. The experiments are yet in the process
of performance. Some of them have recently been made on our own shores,
within the walls of one of our own colleges, and partly by one of our own
fellow citizens. It would be honorable to our country if the sequel of
the same experiments should be countenanced by the patronage of our Government,
as they have hitherto been by those of France and Britain.
Connected with the establishment of an university, or separate from
it, might be undertaken the erection of an astronomical observatory, with
provision for the support of an astronomer, to be in constant attendance
of observation upon the phenomena of the heavens, and for the periodical
publication of his observances. it is with no feeling of pride as an American
that the remark may be made that on the comparatively small territorial
surface of Europe there are existing upward of 130 of these light-houses
of the skies, while throughout the whole American hemisphere there is not
one. If we reflect a moment upon the discoveries which in the last four
centuries have been made in the physical constitution of the universe by
the means of these buildings and of observers stationed in them, shall
we doubt of their usefulness to every nation? And while scarcely a year
passes over our heads without bringing some new astronomical discovery
to light, which we must fain receive at second hand from Europe, are we
not cutting ourselves off from the means of returning light for light while
we have neither observatory nor observer upon our half of the globe and
the earth revolves in perpetual darkness to our unsearching eyes?
When, on 1791-10-25, the first President of the United States announced
to Congress the result of the first enumeration of the inhabitants of this
Union, he informed them that the returns gave the pleasing assurance that
the population of the United States bordered on 4,000,000 persons. At the
distance of 30 years from that time the last enumeration, 5 years since
completed, presented a population bordering on 10,000,000. Perhaps of all
the evidence of a prosperous and happy condition of human society the rapidity
of the increase of population is the most unequivocal. But the demonstration
of our prosperity rests not alone upon this indication.
Our commerce, our wealth, and the extent of our territories have increased
in corresponding proportions, and the number of independent communities
associated in our Federal Union has since that time nearly doubled. The
legislative representation of the States and people in the two Houses of
Congress has grown with the growth of their constituent bodies. The House,
which then consisted of 65 members, now numbers upward of 200. The Senate,
which consisted of 26 members, has now 48. But the executive and, still
more, the judiciary departments are yet in a great measure confined to
their primitive organization, and are now not adequate to the urgent wants
of a still growing community.
The naval armaments, which at an early period forced themselves upon
the necessities of the Union, soon led to the establishment of a Department
of the Navy. But the Departments of Foreign Affairs and of the Interior,
which early after the formation of the Government had been united in one,
continue so united to this time, to the unquestionable detriment of the
public service. The multiplication of our relations with the nations and
Governments of the Old World has kept pace with that of our population
and commerce, while within the last 10 years a new family of nations in
our own hemisphere has arisen among the inhabitants of the earth, with
whom our intercourse, commercial and political, would of itself furnish
occupation to an active and industrious department.
The constitution of the judiciary, experimental and imperfect as it
was even in the infancy of our existing Government, is yet more inadequate
to the administration of national justice at our present maturity. Nine
years have elapsed since a predecessor in this office, now not the last,
the citizen who, perhaps, of all others throughout the Union contributed
most to the formation and establishment of our Constitution, in his valedictory
address to Congress, immediately preceding his retirement from public life,
urgently recommended the revision of the judiciary and the establishment
of an additional executive department. The exigencies of the public service
and its unavoidable deficiencies, as now in exercise, have added yearly
cumulative weight to the considerations presented by him as persuasive
to the measure, and in recommending it to your deliberations I am happy
to have the influence of this high authority in aid of the undoubting convictions
of my own experience.
The laws relating to the administration of the Patent Office are deserving
of much consideration and perhaps susceptible of some improvement. The
grant of power to regulate the action of Congress upon this subject has
specified both the end to be obtained and the means by which it is to be
effected, "to promote the progress of science and useful arts by securing
for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their
respective writings and discoveries". If an honest pride might be indulged
in the reflection that on the records of that office are already found
inventions the usefulness of which has scarcely been transcended in the
annals of human ingenuity, would not its exultation be allayed by the inquiry
whether the laws have effectively insured to the inventors the reward destined
to them by the Constitution -- even a limited term of exclusive right to
their discoveries?
On 1799-12-24, it was resolved by Congress that a marble monument should
be erected by the United States in the Capitol at the city of Washington;
that the family of General Washington should be requested to permit his
body to be deposited under it, and that the monument be so designed as
to commemorate the great events of his military and political life. In
reminding Congress of this resolution and that the monument contemplated
by it remains yet without execution, I shall indulge only the remarks that
the works at the Capitol are approaching to completion; that the consent
of the family, desired by the resolution, was requested and obtained; that
a monument has been recently erected in this city over the remains of another
distinguished patriot of the Revolution, and that a spot has been reserved
within the walls where you are deliberating for the benefit of this and
future ages, in which the mortal remains may be deposited of him whose
spirit hovers over you and listens with delight to every act of the representatives
of his nation which can tend to exalt and adorn his and their country.
The Constitution under which you are assembled is a charter of limited
powers. After full and solemn deliberation upon all or any of the objects
which, urged by an irresistible sense of my own duty, I have recommended
to your attention should you come to the conclusion that, however desirable
in themselves, the enactment of laws for effecting them would transcend
the powers committed to you by that venerable instrument which we are all
bound to support, let no consideration induce you to assume the exercise
of powers not granted to you by the people.
But if the power to exercise exclusive legislation in all cases what
so ever over the District of Columbia; if the power to lay and collect
taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the
common defense and general welfare of the United States; if the power to
regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several States and
with the Indian tribes, to fix the standard of weights and measures, to
establish post offices and post roads, to declare war, to raise and support
armies, to provide and maintain a navy, to dispose of and make all needful
rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging
to the United States, and to make all laws which shall be necessary and
proper for carrying these powers into execution -- if these powers and
others enumerated in the Constitution may be effectually brought into action
by laws promoting the improvement of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures,
the cultivation and encouragement of the mechanic and of the elegant arts,
the advancement of literature, and the progress of the sciences, ornamental
and profound, to refrain from exercising them for the benefit of the people
themselves would be to hide in the earth the talent committed to our charge
-- would be treachery to the most sacred of trusts.
The spirit of improvement is abroad upon the earth. It stimulates the
hearts and sharpens the faculties not of our fellow citizens alone, but
of the nations of Europe and of their rulers. While dwelling with pleasing
satisfaction upon the superior excellence of our political institutions,
let us not be unmindful that liberty is power; that the nation blessed
with the largest portion of liberty must in proportion to its numbers be
the most powerful nation upon earth, and that the tenure of power by man
is, in the moral purposes of his Creator, upon condition that it shall
be exercised to ends of beneficence, to improve the condition of himself
and his fellow men.
While foreign nations less blessed with that freedom which is power
than ourselves are advancing with gigantic strides in the career of public
improvement, were we to slumber in indolence or fold up our arms and proclaim
to the world that we are palsied by the will of our constituents, would
it not be to cast away the bounties of Providence and doom ourselves to
perpetual inferiority? In the course of the year now drawing to its close
we have beheld, under the auspices and at the expense of one State of this
Union, a new university unfolding its portals to the sons of science and
holding up the torch of human improvement to eyes that seek the light.
We have seen under the persevering and enlightened enterprise of another
State the waters of our Western lakes mingle with those of the ocean. If
undertakings like these have been accomplished in the compass of a few
years by the authority of single members of our Confederation, can we,
the representative authorities of the whole Union, fall behind our fellow
servants in the exercise of the trust committed to us for the benefit of
our common sovereign by the accomplishment of works important to the whole
and to which neither the authority nor the resources of any one State can
be adequate?
Finally, fellow citizens, I shall await with cheering hope and faithful
cooperation the result of your deliberations, assured that, without encroaching
upon the powers reserved to the authorities of the respective States or
to the people, you will, with a due sense of your obligations to your country
and of the high responsibilities weighing upon yourselves, give efficacy
to the means committed to you for the common good. And may He who searches
the hearts of the children of men prosper your exertions to secure the
blessings of peace and promote the highest welfare of your country.
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